Government plans to deter migrants from illegally crossing the Channel could put genuine victims of modern slavery at risk, Tory MPs have warned. An amendment to the Illegal Immigration bill—while supporting criminal investigations into their traffickers—would also see these victims removed from Britain to Rwanda. Former prime minister Theresa May, who brought forward modern slavery legislation in her earlier capacity of home secretary, told the new bearers of power that “more people will stay enslaved and in exploitation as a result of this Bill.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, another former Tory leader (and one with a more conservative view of immigration, at that), added that the amendment poses a “threat” not just to those who have been trafficked but also to investigations into their traffickers. Rwanda-bound victims, he said, are likely to ask: “We’re off, so why would we give evidence?”
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick insisted that the plans were perfectly reasonable, telling the House of Commons on Wednesday that
we have no intention of removing [victims of modern slavery], whether home to their own country or to a safe third country, unless that is a place where there are sufficient safeguards to ensure that they are protected.
The Tory critics remained unconvinced, and Mrs. May reportedly shook her head when the minister suggested her opposition to the amendment was a result of her believing Rwanda to be an unsafe country. She said the bill
will give the slave drivers and traffickers another weapon to hold people in that slavery and exploitation. It will be easy to say to them, “Don’t even think about trying to escape from the misery of your life, from the suffering we are subjecting you to, because all that the UK Government will do is send you away, probably to Rwanda.” The Modern Slavery Act gave hope to victims, but this Bill removes that hope. I genuinely believe that if enacted as it is currently proposed, it will leave more people—more men, women and children—in slavery in the UK.
‘Small-c’ conservatives might wonder why the Tory government is so determined to remove trafficking victims from the country, anyway, given that it has spent the past 10 days doing little (at best) in the way of action—despite plenty of talk—about the millions of migrants entering Britain both legally and illegally. The party once promised to limit the number of entrants to the “tens of thousands,” an incredible pledge it is widely agreed to have had no interest in fulfilling. Even the most recent ‘Rwanda Plan’ has been a flop; the government paid the African country £140 million upfront to house some of its illegal migrants, the first flight of whom was cancelled, and agreed to effectively cancel this out by housing some of Rwanda’s “most vulnerable refugees” here in the UK in return.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak named “stopping the boats” as one of his “top priorities” in office, but officials believe more migrants than ever will make the crossing this year. Much less has been said (never mind done) about the numerically more significant subject of legal migration.
